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Total (TOT): Heavy Pre-Market Activity

Editor's Note: Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of TheStreet, Inc. or any of its contributors including Jim Cramer or Stephanie Link.

Trade-Ideas LLC identified
Total (
TOT) as a pre-market mover with heavy volume candidate. In addition to specific proprietary factors, Trade-Ideas identified Total as such a stock due to the following factors:

TOT has an average dollar-volume (as measured by average daily share volume multiplied by share price) of $66.7 million.

TOT traded 628,725 shares today in the pre-market hours as of 9:18 AM, representing 56.5% of its average daily volume.

TOTAL S.A., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a oil and gas company worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Upstream, Refining and Chemicals, and Marketing and Services. The stock currently has a dividend yield of 4.3%. TOT has a PE ratio of 7.2. Currently there are 4 analysts that rate Total a buy, 2 analysts rate it a sell, and none rate it a hold.

The average volume for Total has been 1.4 million shares per day over the past 30 days. Total has a market cap of $139.6 billion and is part of the basic materials sector and energy industry. Shares are up 18.4% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday.

TheStreet Quant Ratings rates Total as a
buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, increase in stock price during the past year, increase in net income, attractive valuation levels and growth in earnings per share. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

The revenue growth came in higher than the industry average of 9.1%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 5.2%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.

Compared to where it was a year ago today, the stock is now trading at a higher level, reflecting both the market's overall trend during that period and the fact that the company's earnings growth has been robust. Turning our attention to the future direction of the stock, it goes without saying that even the best stocks can fall in an overall down market. However, in any other environment, this stock still has good upside potential despite the fact that it has already risen in the past year.

The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels industry. The net income increased by 88.8% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from $1,763.99 million to $3,330.46 million.

TOTAL SA reported significant earnings per share improvement in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, TOTAL SA reported lower earnings of $6.22 versus $7.05 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($6.49 versus $6.22).